Jul 06 2014
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Wassup USA?

Somewhere Right Now, A Millennial Is Freaking Out About Life

millennial dinosaur is afraid of things she can't control millennial dinosaur is afraid of things she can't control

millennial dinosaur is afraid of things she can’t control

I was in Nashville for a reunion with some of my best friends from college for the 4th of July weekend. In the three years since we’ve graduated, we’ve all gone and gotten jobs or done Americorps or the Peace Corps or something along those lines, and now we’re trying to figure out what the heck to do with our lives and also what we’ve already done.

Sometimes I feel terrified that I’m doing everything wrong. Graduating from college was like being forced through the birth canal and leaving a tender home for a world of concrete and screaming and people slapping you to make sure you’re alive.

I miss classes and learning for the sake of learning. I miss my friends and being within a 2 mile walk of 80% of the people I care about. I miss grades and how easy it was to measure success. Sure it was all hell sometimes, but mostly it was awesome.

Not college has been different than college. In the “real world,” learning is not valued just for the sake of learning. My friends are spread out and busy. Community is difficult to build and what the heck is going on with dating nowadays? In some ways I want to write Boston University an angry letter saying “WTF? Why didn’t you prepare me for this?”

On the other hand, my real world education has been incredibly valuable. I’ve learned the value of a dollar (which is almost nothing), and how difficult but important it is to continue to invest in relationships as part of building a life worth living. I’m probably doing most things incorrectly, but so is everyone else and that’s a reassuring thought.

One of the best parts of not college has been the relationships I’ve maintained and the joy of seeing old friends. As I live more life, friendships grow richer as we experience tragedies and great joys together, and as life becomes less about us and how we stack up against arbitrary standards, and more about the kind of legacy we’re building with the people we love.

Because in the end that’s the most valuable thing we have. College couldn’t teach me about the other hard lessons in life, but I did get to build some incredible friendships. My dream is to continue growing that spiderweb of love for the next one hundred years.

I don’t know if I’m making the right career decisions, and I don’t know if my life will look like what I want it to look like in 20 years. I do know that friends are awesome, so I’m going to start there with the rest of my life and ask questions later.

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Jul 05 2014
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Wassup USA?

Nash-hash: The Most Popular Tweets in Nashville on the 4th of July

There are 4th of July celebrations and then there are real 4th of July celebrations. Nashville belongs in neither group. It is in a tier of its own, with the 2nd biggest fireworks display in the entire nation (and the largest one in the south) and over 100k people that turn out to watch it. The only word appropriate for this scenario is damn (pronounced dayum).

I had never seen so much unironic USA gear in so many different forms – frayed shirts, half-shirts, t-shirts, western shirts, pants, shorts, leggings, dresses, hats, bandanas, all of it all together and all at once with a cold Bud in hand.

Having seen the crowds in person, I was curious about what Twitter usage was like on the 4th. I compiled some fake data, did some fake data crunching, and made a pie chart that you can see below. I think you’ll also come to my conclusion that the data shows that Nashville has the most unironic 4th of July celebration in the United States. Quick note: the ironic patriotism was .0001 of all hashtags. I included it for contrast and diversity.

Nash-hash: The Most Popular Hashtags in Nashville on 4th of July

Nash-hash: The Most Popular Hashtags in Nashville on 4th of July

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Jul 04 2014
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Wassup USA?

This Just In: Nashville is Pretty Freaking Awesome

Nashville AirBnB Welcome to Nashville, TN. Here you’ll find more spangles and stars in one block than you would in the entirety of some other place with less spangles and stars. It’s a city that greets you with an American flag as big as Texas in the parking lot of a church as soon as you exit the highway. It’s a place of soul and of grit, of banjos and fiddles and tattoos and denim wear.

It’s a place where a 6 year old girl can wear make-up if she wants to and you can buy fancy ice cream from Jeni’s that actually tastes like heaven even though you want to roll your eyes that they call toppings accoutrements (soooo #hipster.) It’s a place where bands sing with American flag microphones and bejeweled jeans with makeup like whoah with a 300 pound male lead singer who has a curly haired mullet and a cowboy hat and is actually really talented. In short, Nashville is awesome.

In my first 24 hours here, I’ve had more conversations with strangers, done more front porch sitting, drank more alcohol outside, and heard more country music than I have in any other 24 hour period in my life.

In this city with the 2nd biggest fireworks display for 4th of July in the entire US of A (2nd only to Washington, D.C.), big things can happen and you’re going to talk to other people about it, especially if they’re strangers that happen to be grocery shopping right next to you.

It’s the kind of place that makes you wonder if you should have been a country music star and maybe the kind of place that makes you realize that it’s never to late to follow your dreams.

All I know is that I’m trying to get in as much beer drinking, front-porch sitting, and firefly watching as possible in the next couple of days. That’s my dream, and I’m going to make it happen.

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Jul 04 2014
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Travelling, Wassup USA?

13 Things You Can Count on While Roadtripping from Chicago to Nashville

imageLife is confusing. Sometimes you don’t know where to go or what decisions to make. Very frequently, it’s impossible to foresee the outcome of certain paths or situations, and you live in the fog of the unknown. Thank goodness there are some things in life that we can count on, like these things that are guaranteed to happen on the drive from Chicago to Nashville.

1. There will always be a Cracker Barrel every 10 miles. If you’re ever uncertain of where you should exit to get to the nearest one, go ahead and exit. There’s probably one close to you.

2. In these Cracker Barrels, there will absolutely be women named Jean and Barb wearing jeans that go above their belly button with hair dos that the coasts haven’t seen for at least a century, if ever.

3. You will stop and eat at a Cracker Barrel, be really excited about going to an old favorite place, and then realize that it’s actually a little overpriced and not that good. Also, you’ll eat too much.

4. You will enter gas station shopping centers that are complete with clothing options, 24 hour dining, a casino, an arcade and convenience food options. The only thing missing is an apartment complex to attach to it.

5. You will see billboards that say things like “Hell is Real,” or “One Day You Will Meet Thy God,” which will make you wonder who is paying for this and shouldn’t they change their marketing strategy just a little bit. I mean, if I walked up to someone who didn’t believe in Santa Claus and told her that Santa was going to give her 1 million dollars if she filled out an online form, do you think she’d do it? Or would she call the police because there was a stranger hiding in her closet. Exactly.

6. Cars will also start to get preachy, with decals and entire paintings displaying ardor for the Christ.

7. Roadside attractions, like the World’s Most Awesome Flea Market and Dinosaur land, will tempt you from the side of the road. You’ll always wonder what would have happened if you’d taken the leap and exited.

8. You will eat too many snacks in the car and feel a little guilty about it but not really. I mean, what else are you going to do.

9. You will take tons of photos and maybe even videos on the trip that are ultimately unusable.

10. At some point, you will either get lost or notice you have a huge zit on your face.

11. You will keep on waiting for the countryside to change but nothing really happens except Tennessee is a little bit hillier than Indiana.

12. You will realize that you actually didn’t have a very good idea of where Kentucky, Indiana, Tennessee, and Illinois were in relation to one another.

13. You will decide you need to pack up and move to the countryside where life moves a little bit slower

14. You will almost instantly decide that that’s a terrible idea and you’d rather eat your own cardigan than move to the countryside.

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Jul 03 2014
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Wassup USA?

Open Letter to the Guy Who Asked Me If I Was The One Laughing So Loud at the Second City Show

imageI did it. I went to the mecca of improv and sketch comedy. I saw a show at The Second City and it was awesome. At times, my inner comedy and improv geek threatened to burst out and start screaming. But mostly I just laughed a lot. In fact, I laughed so much and so heartily that after the show some dude asked me if I was “the one who was laughing so loud.” I told him that it was probably me, because I love comedy and laughing is my favorite. Below is a more complete response.

Dear Man Sitting a Couple of Rows Ahead of Me,

I hope you enjoyed the show last night. I certainly did. You might have guessed from the volume of my laughter, which was prodigious. That means I was loud. In fact, I laughed so much and so vigorously that I sweated through my cardigan.

I’m not sure if you were trying to be a prick or if you were just accidentally a little bit of a dick. While for the most part it seemed like you took my outbursts in stride, you must have been at least a little pissed off to even speak up. And I would like to not apologize but illuminate the context of the situation and perhaps even inspire you.

Something you should know about me, sir, is that I love comedy. I love it with a dangerous love, a love that has had negative repercussions for my career and for my health. I love it with a love that rivals how you feel about the woman that was with you at the show, with a love greater than the love that Sam had for Frodo. Comedy is my reason for living, my fuel for life, my happy place, my heaven and my favorite dish.

Why do I love comedy so much? Comedy makes me laugh, and laughter brings hope to dark places, opens the doors to new opportunities, brings people together, causes rainbows, and cures cancer. Laughter is saving the world, and I love it. So guess what, friend-o. When I see something funny, I’m going to laugh, and it’s not going to be meek. It’s not going to be restrained and it’s not going to be buckled in or contained in any way. It is going to erupt out of my mouth like an alien from the abdomen, like a herd of bats from a cave or bees from the hive. It’s going to be raw and meaty and real, and you might not be able to handle it.

There is nothing more magical on this earth than sharing a good laugh until you cry with your friends. Laughter is answer and question all in one. It’s a stack of pancakes with the bacon right inside, and it’s a hug from someone you’ve wanted to hug for a long time but weren’t sure if it was appropriate or not. That’s what it is for me.

I’m not sorry for laughing so loud, but I am sorry you couldn’t see what I saw, which was both the show and a woman who scratched her 17-year-old son’s back for two and a half hours straight. Maybe if you’d seen the “Mother, scratcher,” you would have understood.

All best,
Emily

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